Man Reaches 2 Mins Late to the Airport, Escapes Ethiopian Crash

Greek man missed Ethiopian Airlines flight by 2 mins, survived the crash. 

(Photo: Facebook/Antonis Mavropoulos)

Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
Video Producer: Ujjwal Agarwal

Greek man who was scheduled to be on board the Ethiopian Airlines that crashed on 10 March, writes a Facebook post about his fateful miss. He would have been the 150th passenger on the Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing plane that crashed killing all on board, except he arrived two minutes late for the flight.

“I was mad because nobody helped me to reach the gate on time” 

Antonis Mavropoulos said in a Facebook post entitled “<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/greek-man-saved-from-ethiopia-crash-by-being-late/ar-BBUBKIh?li=AA524b">My lucky day</a>”.

According to MSN, Mavropoulos, president of the International Solid Waste Association, a non-profit organization, was travelling to Nairobi to attend the annual assembly of the UN Environment Programme, according to Athens News Agency.

He was supposed to board the plane but he reached the departure gate just two minutes after it was closed.

He booked a later flight but was then prevented from boarding by airport staff.

“They (airport staff) led me to the police station of the airport. The officer told me not to protest but to pray to God because I was the only passenger that didn’t board the ET 302 flight that was lost.”

Antonis Mavropoulos said in a Facebook post entitled “<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/greek-man-saved-from-ethiopia-crash-by-being-late/ar-BBUBKIh?li=AA524b">My lucky day</a>”.

The airport authorities explained that they wanted to question him because he was the only passenger booked onto the doomed flight who wasn't on board.

According to the BBC, 149 passengers and eight crew members were on flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told a press conference that passengers from more than 30 countries were on board the flight.

He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese, eight Americans, seven Britons, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Dutch citizens, four Indians and four people from Slovakia.